The Other Hall County State Court Candidate Endorsed by Democrat (Not John Breakfield!)

UPDATE: John won the election handily on May 24, 2016. Congratulations to him and his family who all worked so hard during the election. As I said in the original post, I have no doubt that Judge Breakfield will make us all proud.

I found a link today where a Michelle Jones is officially “endorsing” Michelle Hall (formerly Rohan) for the open Hall County State Court position that will be decided on May 24, 2016. Here is the link to the posting as of May 19, 2016. http://us12.campaign-archive1.com/?u=f68cdd465b2d65852cdb440fb&id=a6adfae686. I’m not sure how long this post will remain active so I created a PDF of the page which can be viewed below (I redacted it somewhat. If you want to donate to her campaign, you will have to find the phone number elsewhere!)

Michelle Jones Supports Bernie Sanders Too

A couple of unusual things about Michelle Jones’ endorsement of Michelle Hall: (1) Candidates normally don’t endorse other candidates unless the endorsing candidate was running against the other and dropped out to support them (because who cares otherwise). (2) Michelle Jones is a DEMOCRAT. That’s right. In a county with absolutely no elected officials who are of the Democratic persuasion, a Democrat has to endorse someone for a nonpartisan race. In fact she is running against incumbent Republican Emory Dunahoo. (If you reside in the 30th house district, you should vote for Emory Dunahoo and not Michelle Jones too.) Michelle Jones also supports Bernie Sanders for president! Check out the Georgia for Bernie shout out for her (on the left of the page, of course).

Let me rant for a moment about the evil of nonpartisan races. Years ago all elected officials had to register as one party or another. The judges did not like it at some point, so they changed their internal “judge” rules to prohibit it. Then they used their own internal rules to convince the legislature to change the law requiring them to register as a Republican or a Democrat. Why? Well there is the politically correct answer that judges just want to be fair to everyone and being on a “team” makes them seem less than fair to members of the other team. Hogwash!

However the real answer is that having nonpartisan races allows people who don’t share your beliefs to masquerade as someone who does. Someone who has to register as one party or another can still be fair to everyone who comes to the courtroom. That must be true because probate judges and some magistrate judges have to register as a Republican or a Democrat, and they still do a fine job. So as Georgia started turned from Democrat to Republican, people on the inside started looking for a place to hide in plain sight. The easiest way to hide in plain sight is to be nonpartisan. In fact, if you look at removals of judges by the JQC (the internal affairs police for judges) over the past few years, most of those judges removed were nonpartisan judges. I’m not saying that registering avoids RINOs, but it is step in the right direction. Nonpartisan races are a step backward.

What do I know for sure about John Breakfield? Well I have worked side-by-side with John practicing law. He is not afraid of hard work. He was the Hall County GOP Parliamentarian after me, so I know he is real conservative. I have worked with John when he was a mediator and he was able to resolve cases I thought would never settle. I fought John in City of Gainesville cases as opposing counsel. So I have seen all sides of John Breakfield. I know his wife and his kids.

I know that John is a conservative constitutionalist. What does that mean? It means that John will follow the law, not make some new law. I know that John will rule fairly based upon the law and the facts presented without favoritism to any party or attorney. I know that you can put John Breakfield in office and not worry about the work getting done efficiently and fairly again. You can vote and forget. Judge Breakfield will take care of the rest.

I know that we have two great judges on the State Court bench right now: Judge Roberts and Judge Baldwin. You could not ask for two judges that are more fair, compassionate, understanding, law abiding, and fair. (I meant to put fair twice because it is just that important.) With John Breakfield as the third judge, the people of Hall County have a 100% chance of having a great judge to resolve whatever case arises in Hall County State Court.

What you need to do: Check out John online. If you are a Hall County resident you need to vote on or before May 24, 2016 and you need to select John Breakfield for State Court Judge on your electronic ballot. You won’t regret the vote. If you can, make a small donation to help a great guy. You can make the donation online in minutes. You can do that no matter where you live. Help John keep Hall County safe and fair.

Since there is an election going I guess I should say that John Breakfield had nothing to do with this post nor did his campaign. I am not being paid to do anything, or are the expenses of creating this post, paying for the hosting, or anything being defrayed by John or his campaign. John did not authorized this post or review any of my comments. I’m sure John knows how I feel about him already, but he has nothing to do with this. I’m am posting this because I personally support John Breakfield for State Court Judge, and I want you to also.

3 comments

As a proud tea party conservative, John sounds like good choice for my vote, but I do have concerns about your statement ” You can vote and forget. Judge Breakfield will take care of the rest” one of the key parts of the Tea Party movement for me is holding all our elected officials accountable, at all times, including conservatives to make sure they are sticking to the values that we voted for. How does this approach, mesh with that philosophy?

I’m glad you called me on this Anthony! I wish every voter held their elected officials accountable as you are inclined to do. What a wonderful country we would live in!

However the judiciary is the least scrutinized branch of government, and if you are a non-lawyer you probably don’t know anything about how good or bad a judge is even if you try to keep up. Judges that look “good” to the public can be intemperate, lazy, slow, inefficient, expensive, and even ignorant of the most basic concepts of the law, but they often look good while they do it. Just because they smile and wave at your favorite restaurant does not mean they are a good judge. They can do something that looks “tough on crime” one day when the press is there, but the next day give a child molester weekends in jail or an attempted murderer probation. Or an innocuous ruling at a hearing that nobody attends on a technical issue can allow a case with no real legal or factual basis to go forward for another couple of years at bankrupting expense. Years, and tens of thousands of dollars later, the client finally “wins,” but it is a pyrrhic victory. If you are a lawyer and know the inside story, then you are probably too afraid to say anything about the bad judges until they do something very, very bad (like pull a gun out in court or start FaceBooking your wife). The minute you say something bad about a judge, expect retribution to fall on you. That unfairness destabilizes the entire system of justice.

What I mean by “vote and forget” is that you can be assured that whether you take the time to hold John accountable or not, he will do the right thing. John will do the right thing when you are looking and when nobody’s looking. He will treat friends and foes with the same fair deliberation. I expect no special treatment, but if the law and facts or on my side I expect to win the case.

I also said that “you” can vote and forget. I assure you that I will be there to make sure that John does not get “black robe fever.” But so will Judges Roberts and Baldwin. I’m sure that he would encourage you to keep your eye on him as well!

I’ve witnessed first hand how effective and justice oriented Michelle Hall is. Please don’t turn this into a partisan conflict. Michelle and her family are proud Hall County Conservatives. Besides, Democrats, and Independents are effected by our courts.